Reassignment and Other Really Wild Things
by Mallaithe
Summary: Spin Off from the Expert Testimony series. Rodney has an idea, Sheppard has an objection, Carter has a headache, Jack has a fit and someone has an adventure.
1. Rodney Makes a Point

"We need to at least consider using F-Tech."

"No, no we don't we really really don't. Look we nearly get ourselves killed like weekly screwing around with Ancient technology and we kinda sorta know how some of _that_ actually works." Sheppard snapped.

Rodney was red faced and determined.

"We will never understand it if we can't at least examine it."

"We have examined it. It got people killed, hell one guy is still in a coma Rodney we're not doing it."

"Sheppard, we're losing to the wraith, the cure doesn't work."

"Michael was a fluke –"

"Fine then let's just pretend Carson can hammer a miracle out of that horrifying mess he calls a science, that still leaves us with a galaxy full of pissed off ex-wraiths that never asked to be made human. Instead of saving them from their terrible natures we will have violated them on a fundamental level. That's not how you make allies. We already know the amnesia is temporary and even if it weren't do you think we could manufacture backgrounds for thousands of pseudo albinos?"

"Rodney people died the last time anyone screwed around with Furling technology and besides it's in the Milky Way."

"Fine but don't blame me when the wraith take over Atlantis and dial home." Rodney pouted.

* * *

"Colonel Carter?" John asked as he entered her office. She was leaning back in her chair either dozing or thinking.

"Hi, I was meaning to look for you. Lorne is slated to head to the SGC on the next round we have some personnel rotating out and I'd like your opinion on replacements. He was hoping to grab some leave but I wanted to run it by you before approving it, we'll be pretty lightly staffed…what is it?"

"Rodney is asking about Furling technology." John sighed.

Carter's expression clouded and she sat back in her chair again.

"Out of the question"

"I agree Colonel it's just…well, he makes some good points."

She didn't cut him off, encouraged John continued.

"Say Carson's cure works, what then? We'll have thousands of pissed off ex-wraiths with no planets or jobs, unable to support themselves. Let's assume they keep their memories they'll also have warships ready to use against us and the humans of Pegasus."

"I will never advocate genocide." Carter said stiffly.

"What did we do to the Goa'uld?"

"We didn't have a choice and the Tok'ra had a voice in that decision. John I was there when we uncovered the temple, I honestly don't see how it can help us here. People died thanks to that thing and the planet it's on is locked out of the dialing system for a reason."

"I figured as much." John sighed and rested his hands on his hips.

"So, Lorne's leave?"


	2. Lorne Runs an Errand

"Holloway, on the line."

Max rose from her bunk and shrugged into the arms of her coverall, zipped it up and stood on the line painted in front of the cell door. A distant buzzer squawked and the door clunked and opened, outside it stood a very large very fast guard named Billy. Billy was in his forties, smart, cunning, and fair.

Max liked Billy he couldn't be bought but he was fair minded. He didn't like that she was housed with men but had stopped trying to protect her four years ago when she kicked the shit out of the block bad ass and got away without a scratch. That had been a set up and Billy had personally walked out the dumbass that thought he could get away with leaving a violent prisoner unattended.

"Hi Billy."

"Holloway."

"Too early for chow."

"You have a visitor."

Max blinked but followed behind Billy in perfect step with him. She didn't get visitors. She was in solitary, she did everything alone, eat, shit, shower – everything. She only talked to Billy and the other guards when they needed her to do something.

Her silence had bothered Billy he thought she had been hurt somehow or was afraid. She put him at ease on that matter one afternoon during her first month in the lock up.

"Cat got your tongue prisoner?"

"No sir, I don't have much to say."

Billy looked at her faded shoulder tattoo, took in her bearing and nodded.

"Military?"

"After a fashion sir."

"Classified?"

"A little."

"How'd you end up in here Holloway?"

"I took lives that weren't mine to take sir, here to do my time and try to make amends."

"An honest con."

"No sir, an honest killer."

Now years later Billy didn't mind her silence at all. He liked to be near her, something about her just oozed calm and confidence. It was relaxing. Maybe he realized she would never make a move to hurt him or his people. Maybe he realized her shit kicking life taking days were done. Maybe he just liked her. But after she put paid to the tier asshole he did what he could to make things easier for her.

"Do you know who the visitor is Billy?"

"Nope just got the call. When it comes to you Max I don't ask questions."

Max let herself smile at that. No, Billy didn't ask questions. He didn't wonder too hard about why she was there, why she never talked about her past, why she still looked fresh faced and healthy instead of haggard or half crazed like the other solitary prisoners. No, Billy didn't ask.

Billy lead her in to an area that was new to her. It looked like administrative offices they passed a break room with one startled occupant and stopped at a closed steel door. Billy gestured for her to wait and knocked on the door, waited then opened it and gestured for her to enter.

She did so cautiously. It was an office after all. A large desk sat at the opposite end with what seemed to be law books behind it. Tomes on criminal justice and psychology scattered among them. A woman sat at the desk, Max assumed she was the warden. Next to the warden stood a figure in a blue uniform, light from a window behind the figure drowned out details.

"Holloway." The woman said. Max's eyes locked on to her while keeping the stranger in peripheral view.

"Ma'am."

"You have one half hour to spend with our guest. At the conclusion of that half hour you'll be returned to your cell."

"Yes Ma'am." Max said. The warden stood and walked toward Max. Max stepped aside clearing access to the door. As the woman passed Max caught a heady mixture of now foreign scents, expensive shampoo, face powder, lipstick, perfume, clean sweat, heavy linen and…worry.

"Why do you make the Warden worry?" She asked the figure.

"I apologize for all the cloak and dagger Sergeant."

"I'm not enlisted anymore."

"My name is Major Evan Lorne. I'm here on behalf of the SGC." The figure said stepping away from the window. Max blinked and let her eyes adjust and take him in. His uniform and rank were right, he moved confidently and sounded like he was telling the truth.

"I'm a convicted murderer Major, mass murderer, what the hell do you want with me?"

"The situation at the SGC has changed in the past few years Sergeant –"

"I told you, I'm not enlisted. I was discharged."

"Can we start over?" The Major asked.

He was a little taller than Max, not quite short but under average height. He had sparkling dark eyes and came across as competent and intelligent. He moved like someone used to physicality and wasn't a bullshitter. Or he was an amazing liar.

"How do I know you're who you say you are? You could be NID."

"General O'Neill said to tell you he still hates deserts."

Max relaxed.

"General?"

"I'm sorry there's a lot to cover and we only have… twenty-five minutes." Lorne said looking at the clock on the Warden's desk.

"Shoot." Max said.

"Shortly after you were incarcerated the lost city of Atlantis was located and colonized by an international team. It is overseen by an international oversight committee from several nations and has an international staff including some trusted person native to the Pegasus galaxy."

"I think I'm with you so far." Max said frowning.

"When the city was first activated it was on the bottom of an ocean, the exploratory team's presence set off a chain reaction of power failures which triggered a failsafe and raised the city from the ocean floor. They tried to find a way back to Earth; the idea was to use Atlantean technology to help defend Earth. A scouting party was captured; in the process of rescuing the captured personnel and some friendly locals a new enemy was discovered. They're called wraith."

"Keep going Major." Max said not reacting to his tale just yet.

"The wraith feed on other living beings, animals if they have to but they prefer humans. They're almost unstoppable and don't age at the same rate we do. The people of the Pegasus galaxy have existed as cattle for the wraith for thousands of years. We woke them early so there aren't enough people in Pegasus to feed the wraith. They hibernate between periods of culling the populace."

Max held up a hand. "So they want Earth and we can't really stop them?"

"We have so far but really only because they don't know where Earth is."

"So why are you here again?" She asked folding her arms across her chest and shifting her weight from foot to foot.

"Colonel Carter requested that I explain the situation to you and give you this."

Lorne pulled an envelope out of the inside pocket of his uniform jacket. Max took it and opened it. Inside was a typed letter.

_Max, Major Lorne is telling the truth but only the broad strokes. We need your help, the wraith can and will decimate Earth. _

_Sam._

Max read the letter twice then tucked it in to her pocket.

"Okay. What's next?" She asked calmly.

"You change out of that uniform and I have a conversation with he Warden." Lorne said, Max thought she heard relief in his voice. To be fair pre-jail Max Holloway would have been a lot more suspicious and argumentative.

"Change?" She asked. He nodded behind her and she turned to follow the gesture. A dry cleaning bag hung from the Warden's door. Max partially unzipped it to reveal a set of blues with a nametag, Holloway.

"Warden!" Major Lorne said loudly enough to beckon the woman back in. Max stepped behind her and freed the clothing from the door, stripped and began to get dressed. Lorne's eyes widened then locked on to the Warden with laser intensity.

"You have the pardon?"

"Yes, and I've verified it. I'll admit Major I'll be happy to have Ms. Holloway out of my prison. This is a dangerous place as it is."

Max finished dressing and folded her prison uniform neatly along with the boots hesitated, then kept the boots and handed the coverall to the Warden.

"Ma'am."

"Holloway, I don't know where you're going or what you're going to do but…be careful and don't do anything rash."

"No Ma'am." Max agreed then looked at Lorne for direction. He was blushing slightly but met her eyes and walked to the door.

"Eyes front and down Holloway, let's go." She complied and didn't lift her gaze until she was in a sedan with government plates and the prison was fading behind them.

"You okay?" Lorne asked several minutes later. Max was looking out the window, drinking in the scenery and colors.

"I'll be fine Major. When do we head to Atlantis?"

"Uh tomorrow."

"Can I ask a question?" She asked still watching the lively colorful world unfold around them.

"Yeah of course."

"You said the wraith feed on living things, presumably its more than just slaughter and cooking?"

"Uh yeah, sorry I couldn't be more specific. They sort of uh eat your life force; they have this sucker on their hand. It's…disturbing." He sounded self-conscious about the description, fully aware of how absurdly horrifying it was.

"Space vampires." She muttered and sighed then finally turned from the view.

"Does it sound like a good idea to take someone like me to meet that?"

"Someone like you?" Lorne asked confused. Something flickered across Max's face and she sighed again.

"Can I ask another question?"

He nodded and carefully changed lanes.

"What, exactly, did Colonel Carter tell you about me?"


	3. Jack Has His Say

_Forty-Eight Hours Earlier…._

Jack had always heartily disliked politics, politicians, politicking so on and so forth. He much preferred it when people said what they meant and did what he said. Which was weird considering the time he had spent doing things because political people told him to.

He gave Walter Harriman a wary look and slowly sat at his desk.

"Yes Sergeant?" He asked carefully. Walter grinned heartily at his general and handed him a manila folder then stepped back and waited.

Jack continued to study Harriman then sighed and looked at the folder.

"Colonel Carter's personnel request for the latest rotation." Harriman clarified.

Jack grunted and opened it, skipped past the boilerplate opening paperwork to the personnel and supply manifests then scowled at a particularly interesting sheet of paper.

"Sergeant Harriman, were you aware of Colonel Carter's unusual…" Jack made a face like he'd smelled something foul "…request?"

"Yes sir General O'Neill, I have the paperwork ready to go."

"You know what paperwork is needed to request a Presidential pardon in the face of a national security threat?"

"Yes sir." Harriman replied earnestly.

"Neat." Jack said sounding impressed then sighed and returned to the file.

Two hours later he was in the midst of video conference with Carter.

"Sir I know it's unusual but we need her."

"Okay, see, that's the part that's confusing me. For what exactly Carter?" Jack asked tiredly.

Carter hesitated, licked her lips then forged on, "Sir, I strongly suspect that her natural abilities may prove immune to the wraith."

Jack considered this then scowled. "If they are you're going to need Carthis."

"Maybe sir, with the technology on Atlantis we may be able to find a way to mimic her natural defenses. If we can do that we gain an incredible tactical advantage."

"What about Dr. Beckett's cure?"

"Problematic sir, even if it works the wraith don't have crops or livestock, at best we would have to either support them or try to integrate them with native populations until they could survive on their own. Not to mention the fall out once they realize they've been forced into becoming human."

"I don't like this, you know she won't."

"I know but I think we have to ask."

Jack scrubbed at his face then rubbed his neck and sighed again.

"Fine, but you send one of your people to ask her no drafting, not for this."

"Absolutely sir."

"You sure Jarod wouldn't be better for this?" Jack asked thoughtfully.

"He can't agree to it sir, even if he could or we were willing to do it we don't know what his state would do to our findings."

"Ethically questionable Carter? You're springing a mass murderer who may be as dangerous as a wraith."

"I know sir, I wouldn't ask if it wasn't Max."

"I know. Just…be careful and brief your security teams but wait until she's agreed, no need to spill the beans early."

"I agree sir." Carter said with a relieved but worried smile.

"Harriman where's that paperwork?" Jack asked.

Carter ended the call half an hour later and let out a slow breath. She picked up her tablet and entered two passwords and a string of instructions, hesitated and added an addendum, studied it for a few moments then hit enter, smiled tiredly and set the tablet down.


	4. Max Shows, Then Tells

"-About it." Lorne said and shrugged one shoulder as he repeated Carter's micro briefing.

She chewed her lower lip and fingered her seatbelt where it pressed against her collarbone through the uniform.

"So your commander tells you to spring a convicted mass murderer from an all-male federal prison so she can accompany you on an intergalactic flight to possibly fight space vampires and you're like, totally cool Ma'am when do I leave?"

"It was an order and I trust Colonel Carter, her judgment has saved lives in the past. Believe it or not I'll probably get weirder orders."

"Right. Fair enough." Max agreed.

Minutes later they arrived at the gates to the SGC and Max had a random thought, years ago at the alpha site…the security breach. She wondered if anyone had ever traced the culprit.

"Follow me Sergeant." Major Lorne said, he was holding the door for her.

"Sergeant?" She asked then remember the stripes on her uniform arm. "I, yes sir, I didn't realize they had reinstated my rank." She said with a frown and got out of the car. He lead her through the maze of security, at the end of it she had a valid military I.D. and clearance. She wondered how the hell that had been managed but didn't question it.

As they cleared the last of security Max noticed a group of uniformed personnel milling in a clump ahead of them, then a familiar raucous voice cut through the hum.

"Unless you have something that literally has to be dealt with in the next four minutes scram, I mean it." Seconds later the buzz of people had thinned leaving Harriman, the dedicated but odd gate technician, and Jack O'Neill waiting for Lorne and Max.

Max started to move into attention and Jack ordered her at ease.

"Long time." He said warmly.

"Yes sir, I'll be honest sir I didn't think I'd see you again so soon."

"Like the star? Not sure I do."

"It suits you sir." Max said honestly and glanced at Harriman then back to Jack.

"Major Lorne couldn't tell me much sir."

"Ah security, to be fair we couldn't tell him much either, come on campers it's show and tell time, Harriman to do the honors." Jack said as he lead them to the familiar briefing room. Harriman presented Max with a plastic case she accepted it with a hurried, thank you sir, and jogged to catch up with O'Neill and Lorne. Harriman smiled his knowing smile and followed.

"Major Lorne, you've seen some exceedingly odds things in your career, yes?"

"Yes sir." The young officer agreed though there was no bravado in his tone, just simple agreement.

"Cool, now for some seriously weird shit." Jack grinned almost savoring the profanity. Max entered the room with the case in hand.

"Holloway, what are you doing unarmed? Open the case." Jack said sternly though his eyes glittered.

Max looked at the confused Major back to the pleased General, behind her to smirking Harriman back to Jack then down to the case. She gently set it on the briefing room table and popped the dual latches. She took a breath and held it then slowly lifted the cover.

Her asp blade glittered at her. It was something she and Methos had designed, a gift from him in the end. It was telescoping blade built around the design of a self-defense Asp. It was shit as a defensive weapon it would chip, buckle, or shatter within a few blows but it wasn't meant to be a primary weapon, it was a secret weapon, an unpleasant surprise for an immortal or mortal enemy. She let out a sigh of immense satisfaction and relief.

"You kept it sir, thank you."

"Well it's neat, so yeah." Jack agreed and looked at Lorne, poor confused Lorne.

"Why don't you demonstrate it and y'know bring Lorne in to the fold?" He suggested lightly. Max hesitated for a moment then nodded.

She picked up the collapsed weapon then flung it out with a whipping gesture and felt a shiver of pleasure as the contraption telescoped neatly to its full length, wicked edge gleaming in the overhead lighting.

Lorne tensed slightly but otherwise seemed content to watch. Max nodded and smiled at him.

"This is going to freak you out sir, there's no way around it but I promise I'll be fine, okay?"

Lorne glanced at Jack then at Max and nodded. She drew the blade across her palm, deep enough to expose tissue and bone. She laid the blade on the table and lifted the mangled hand, almost immediately the thin blue-white light of her Quickening crawled along the surgically neat injury leaving blood smeared intact flesh behind.

"I have a condition." Max said. Lorne had started to rise from his chair when Max injured herself, now he slowly sat down and remained quiet.

"I can't die unless I'm beheaded. My kind…uh we hunt each other. When one of us kills another we take their power, that light you saw. It sucks actually hurts like hell. Anyway, point is I'm really hard to kill and really good with a sword. I almost always carry one, or did, do I guess." She said and picked up the blade, wipe it clean with a cloth retrieved from the case then thumbed the release on the handle and put it back in the case once the blade had collapsed.

"Are you an alien?" Lorne asked.

"No idea, don't have a clue where we come from. We're all foundlings, though apparently we're unique to Earth. Go figure."

"Sir –"

"Why would we risk letting the wraith find out about Earth and Max's people?" Jack interrupted knowingly. Lorne allowed himself a small sigh and nodded.

"Because Carter thinks she might be immune to them and we can use that to stop them, or at least bloody their weird noses."

"Yes sir." Lorne agreed he liked the idea of kicking wraith ass.


	5. Tey'la Watches a Fight

Sheppard watched the hustle and bustle of residents and personnel in the main tower from the control area. He leaned against a railing and watched for Colonel Carter.

"Ah Sheppard, there you are." Rodney, sounding smugger than usual, declared.

John stifled a winced, put on a smile and turned to face McKay "Hi Rodney, how are you today?"

"So glad you asked –" Rodney said gleefully as John turned back to the railing and let Rodney's excited babbling wash over him.

Carter still hadn't shown up.

"Rodney have you seen Carter?"

"Sure she was getting breakfast with Tey'la like twenty minutes ago."

"Thanks." John said patting Rodney's shoulder and gently pushing past him. Rodney looked vaguely stricken then irritated at having his tale of triumph overridden.

Sheppard spotted her leaving the main chow hall with Tey'la.

"Colonel Carter." He called. The women paused and waited for him to catch up.

"Colonel Sheppard, where's the fire?" Sam asked with a smile. She knew what had him worked up. Tey'la smiled at her friend and commander and waited to see what would unfold.

"The Daedalus hasn't advised of an arrival time yet. You don't think that's strange?"

"Not really." Carter said simply.

"I believe Colonel Sheppard is worried that Major Lorne's charge may be a source of delay." Tey'la said diplomatically.

"Yeah I am, thanks for summing it up. Colonel you know how I feel about this idea –"

"I worked and fought with Max for years. I'm not worried about her."

"So you are worried." John pressed.

"Of course I am. I'm worried we won't establish enough trade alliances to supplement supplies from Earth. I'm worried the wraith are going to find us again and we won't be ready for them I'm worried about a dozen things but Max isn't one of them." Carter said firmly.

Tey'la watched the interplay and tried to sort out her own feelings. She trusted both officers but worried mostly for the safety of her people.

"It's been five years Colonel, how do you know prison hasn't changed her for the worse?"

"Because Major Lorne and General O'Neill have cleared her."

John sighed he didn't have any other real arguments to make.

"I suggest that we at least put her under guard –"

"Colonel we're prepared to test her reaction to the wraith as soon as she arrives, if things don't work out she'll be returned to the Daedalus and the wraith will be destroyed."

"No harm no foul?" John asked coldly.

Carter turned on him with the full force of her rank and combat proficiency weighting her words. "Max was my friend, she saved my life more than once. I'm doing this out of necessity. She's fully aware of what we're asking of her and willing to take the risk."

John took a step back and let out a held breath.

"You can have her under guard if you like." Carter said by way of appeasement.


	6. Daedalus and 'Friends'

Max very quickly discovered that for all its size the Daedalus was cramped and really boring. Unlike most of the rest of the crew and passengers she didn't have any work to do during the flight. The Daedalus was primarily a war ship that also carried people and supplies so it wasn't kited out for entertainment or comfort.

Lorne like the rest of the majority of the passengers supplemented the Daedalus' crew with shifts in security and other duties as needed so he didn't have much time to spare. She tried to engage with other crew members but she stood out and apart.

She had assumed she would, after all an operation conducted with such secrecy was roughly equivalent to a small town or horror of horrors high school when it came to gossip and rumors. She was the new kid in town, worse she was the inheritor of five year old rumors and speculation. Her incarceration had been secret but there were still members of the SGC that had known her or at least known of her five years ago still assigned to the program.

So she found it hard to strike up conversations let alone a friendship. Part of her didn't mind, the same part that really really wanted to find a nice cozy cell-like corner to call home, the part of her that had made solitary bearable.

She was sitting in the canteen nursing a cold mug of okay coffee and enjoying the weird view out of one of the very rare viewing ports when Lorne found her.

"Hi."

"Good morning sir." She replied trying very hard not to stare at his smile. It was a very good smile.

"How's the coffee?"

"Cold but drinkable." She said and moved down the bench to give him room to sit so he could enjoy the view too.

"How are you doing?"

"I'm fine."

"Yeah but how are you doing?" He pushed and engaged the cousin of that wonderful smile, a knowing cajoling smirk.

"Really sir I'm okay, no one is hazing me or writing things on bathroom walls."

"But?" The smirk again.

She smiled and sighed. "But they're cold, stand offish, suspicious or …. You ever been to a zoo sir?"

"Sure."

"They look at me like I dunno, like I'm a tiger or something. Something to be respected, something gorgeous and rare but dangerous. Something they can tell their friends they saw and how neat it was."

"I see." He said thoughtfully.

"I'm fine sir really, we'll be at Atlantis in a few wake ups and I'll either be a hero or heading back to prison. So…it doesn't really matter."

"You think you'll go back to prison?" Lorne asked.

She finished the cold coffee and turned to face him more directly.

"Yes sir. If I'm no good the pardon is nulled."

Lorne frowned, that bothered him. It wouldn't be her fault if her abilities didn't work on a wraith. It seemed wrong to give her hope and lock her up again. Then again she was a criminal.

"I don't mind gong back." She said as she studied his face.

"Really?" He sounded incredulous. The idea of being locked inside alone all day made his skin crawl.

"I mean, it's not fun or anything but… it's safe and I have my memories. Did you know we have eidetic memories? It's not perfect recall but its close. When I'm locked up I can remember a meal with friends or a walk with a lover, or anything I want. It's never as good as the real thing of course but it…helps." She didn't mention the other memories that were just as vivid though of no comfort. The memory of hot blood, frightened faces, he own insatiable blood lust, the rage…

"You okay?" He asked and she realized he had been asking her something. She blushed.

"Sorry I was lost in a thought."

"I guess so. I was asking if you like to paint. I have some supplies –"

"I've never been any good at it but I love to watch people paint, draw, hell doodle. It's fascinating. I like to try to guess what they're creating. You paint?"

"Yeah a little bit. My mother taught me."

So when Lorne painted, Max watched. She watched him struggle to get just the exact shade of yellow for a marigold, capture the curve of a bead of sweat on a feminine jawline, but her favorite was when she tried to paint the view in the canteen. The image couldn't really be duplicated but the feeling could. The surrealism of sitting in what amounted to a cramped café while watching something impossible streak by.

The day before they arrived above Atlantis Lorne finished the painting.

"It's perfect." Max said as he put down his pallet and began cleaning his brushes so he could pack them for disembarkation the next day.

"I don't know about that –" Lorne said. Like all creators and artists he could find fault with his work in an instant.

"No, I do know Lorne, it is." She said emphatically. She had slowly stopped referring to him as sir when they were alone.

That night she dreamed of the killings. It wasn't as black and white as she liked to tell herself. It wasn't a case of her going kill crazy, much if not the majority of the killings had been self-defense. Even the prosecutor and judge in her plea deal had seen that. It was the rest, the point of no return that dogged her. At what point had she gone from self-defense, from being the good guy to cold calculated murder?

She sat up in a cold sweat with tears on her cheeks. The Daedalus interior was kept at a constant temperature, individual quarters didn't have individualized climate control. During the day she often felt it was too warm, but at night she shivered. She swung her legs off the bunk and let out a shaky sigh.

She was berthed alone. She had been told it was a lucky fluke there simply weren't an even number of passengers this trip. But, considering how the crew and passengers had reacted to her, she couldn't help but wonder if there weren't quarters somewhere on the ship where someone was sleeping three deep.

"Fuck them." She sighed hoarsely and fumbled for a canteen. She kept it nearby for nights like this. She drained it wincing slightly at the stale plastic taste of the water. She had left the water in it too long. She wiped her lips and let out a breath.

She checked her watch, something she hadn't worn much in her life before prison but without a cellphone she needed something to tell time, and sighed. It would be another two hours before the canteen was open or any crew were up. They might not talk to her but she liked the bustle and clang of living human beings around her. Maybe she had learned to take comfort in the sounds of humanity while locked up. The farts, snores, mutters and half muffled conversations of the other prisoners had been background to her daily life.

She stripped out of her sweaty clothes and dug out fresh clothing. She still wore the general issue BDUs like most of the crew. Some of the personnel being transported including Major Lorne wore a very different uniform. It looked more comfortable and modern, gray cargo pants and well fitted jackets with dark t-shirts and colored panels or piping with rank at the collar. She was still trying to figure out the color coding particularly what red signified but hadn't bothered to outright ask Lorne. She wondered if she would be issued such a uniform if she killed the guinea pig wraith. She wondered what color the panels would be.


	7. Lorne Lends an Ear

An hour later she sat in the darkened canteen next to the viewport. The impossible light cast strange shadows on the familiar benches and tables. Without realizing it she dozed off again.

"Dangerous?"

"Who here isn't dangerous?"

"Rodney did blow up a star system."

"Yeah but he didn't mean to. They say she confessed to murder, mass murder."

"Who are they?"

She opened her eyes. Four tables over a group of people in the unusual uniforms were discussing her. She didn't think they knew she could hear them. She sighed and sat up. They didn't fall silent. Annoyed and frustrated she decided to put a halt to the conversation. Gently.

"Hi." She said. The group stared at her and blinked, at the same time. She grinned in amusement.

"My name is Max Holloway. Ask me whatever you like." She said evenly. A tall thin man with an equally thin ponytail and officious manner glanced at his companions then snorted.

"Fine, I will ask a question. Are the rumors true?" He asked with a sneer.

Max studied him for a moment wondering how he could manage to ask her that in a tone like that. Then smiled again.

"Which ones?"

"Well –"She cut him off.

"All you need to know is that I'm here because Colonel Carter and General O'Neill want me here and I'm not going to hurt anyone. Okay?"

The obnoxious man glanced at his peers, seemed to gather his version of courage and said, "So you are a murderer then."

She felt tired so damn tired because she knew this was a conversation she would never get away from.

"Yes. I am." She said simply. He paled and wilted. She left then unable to bear their stares, the copper taste of fear drifting off them. As she walked away she felt the urge to scream at them to burst in to tears, to smash her fist in to a bulkhead to do _something _crash over her.

She ran into Lorne two halls down.

"Whoa, hey." He said with a laugh as he gently pushed her out of the way and looked at her face.

"What happened?" He asked.

"I'm sorry sir I just had a bad night –" She started to pull away, he had left a hand on her shoulder, he stopped her.

"What happened?"

"Oh shit, the usual, I feel like a teenager Christ. Look I'm fine sir nothing really happened, I just had a word with some asshole in a blue paneled uniform, stupid ponytail. It really wasn't anything I guess I'm just I don't know, space lagged?" She joked lamely and took a deep breath then let it out.

Lorne thought about giving the scientist that had been such an asshole a piece of his mind, then thought better of it. Max might not be staying and there was already a near constant level of tension between certain members of the science teams and the military presence on Atlantis as it was.

He patted Max's shoulder instead. "It's almost over, one way or another." He said and smiled.

She nodded and took another breath then smiled back.

"Think the coffee is still drinkable?" He asked.

"No, but it's probably warm." She admitted and followed him as he resumed his path to the canteen.


	8. A Wraith Has a Snack

John, Ronon, Tey'la and Rodney were waiting with a security detail for the now infamous Max Holloway to arrive with Lorne. Rumors traveled faster than air and within days of Max's decision to leave prison the city was popping and hissing with the white noise of a hot new rumor.

"We should make some kind of announcement Sheppard. Half the people here are expecting an axe wielding maniac." Rodney grunted.

"I hear she used a sword." Ronon said with one of his small isn't-it-fun-to-wind-up-Rodney smiles.

Tey'la glanced at Ronon and frowned one of her stop-winding-up-Rodney frowns.

McKay just stared mournfully at the open Stargate. John ignored the interplay and wondered if he should have brought more security, not for Max but in case anyone got mouthy or tried to make a scene. Atlantis couldn't and didn't run like a civilian city or a military outpost, though it leaned heavily toward military outpost. The civilian personnel from Earth would follow commands up to a point especially in combat or when the city faced an external threat. Likewise the Athosians and any other guests would defer to Sheppard's people in most situations.

This wasn't most situations. This was the leadership of the city choosing to bring a dangerous element into the city for an unknown reason. Carter had kept her plan under wraps. John had agreed the only thing worse than bringing a mass murderer to Atlantis was bringing a mass murderer _and_ a wraith to Atlantis.

"Colonel Sheppard?" Carter's voice filled his ear piece.

"I'm here." He replied stiffly.

"We need to thin out this crowd, can you request an additional security team to assist?"

"Absolutely." John loved working under Carter.

Half an hour later the looky loos had been politely but firmly removed leaving only essential personnel and security behind.

"Hey Colonel you ready for the show?" Rodney asked as Carter appeared. John's team were waiting on the steps that lead from the gate to ops. He nodded at Carter.

"I think so Dr. McKay."

John tapped his earpiece, "Okay come on through Lorne we're ready." John said. Seconds later two figures exited the wormhole and it closed behind them. The woman wasn't especially big John noted with some surprise. She was somewhat plain but wasn't wearing makeup and her BDUs were loose on her frame. She moved confidently very physical and sure of herself. Lorne kept close to her but was relaxed, friendly. Feeling somewhat relieved John lead his team and Carter down the steps.

Max was all eyes and caution as she followed Lorne. The room they were in was enormous and beautiful.

"Is the whole city this nice?" She asked Lorne still glancing around, noting the various guards and crates of supplies nearby.

"Yes." Lorne said with a chuckle.

"Sir." He said as John approached.

"Sergeant Holloway, welcome to Atlantis. I'm Colonel John Sheppard."

"Sir." Max said as John waived her near salute away.

"Thank you for coming." Carter said warmly and offered her hand. Max took it in a warrior's embrace and grinned.

"I'm sorry it was so hard to get me here Ma'am. Congratulations on the promotion and assignment, you deserve both."

Max studied John's companions tagging them as obviously non-Earth and very much military of some sort then turned her attention back to Carter.

"Let's get this taken care of so we can get on with our lives." She sounded confident but even John and Ronon caught the quaver in her voice.

"Max –"

"Carter I…please let's just do it, okay?" Max said suddenly pale. Carter nodded. John lead the group to a transporter, Lorne remained behind, his task done. He watched them go feeling sick and frustrated.

They were silent during the trip. Max focusing on staying calm and in control, she used every breathing and meditation technique she had ever been taught. Frankly she was terrified. She had no idea what was going to happen.

They ended up in a well-guarded room that felt subterranean. Max thought she could smell saltwater and sense movement but she could have been projecting that, she knew Atlantis floated on a saltwater sea. In front of them was an elaborate cage and on its floor a humanoid being. Max recognized it from training videos as a wraith.

She hadn't expected to be able to smell it.

"That smell…do they always smell like that?"

Her companions seemed confused aside from Ronon who seemed impressed.

"Yes, cold and evil." He agreed.

"Should I just –"

"No, Dr. Beckett –"

"Ah there y'are." A cheerful Scottish voice rang out and a solidly built man with dark hair and a kind visage appeared from around a corner. He was trailed by a medical technician and McKay. Rodney looked sheepishly at his team having fled ops with the rest of the sightseers.

Max barely registered Beckett's words as he and the tech hooked up probes and leads. Once they were done she knew she would have to submit to the terrible hunger of the creature in the cage. Finally Carson's and his assistant were done. The rest of the SGA personnel watched in silence as Max took a deep breath and approached the monster.

She had removed her BDU jacket and now wore only the t-shirt and pants, she remembered the asp blade in its customer rig under her shirt and felt better. Maybe if things went wrong she could chop the thing's arm off.

As she approached the wraith rose from the floor of the cave and settled its inhuman insectile eyes on her.

"A snack." It hissed, only it wasn't just out loud, she could feel it in her skull, not the words but the meaning behind them. It didn't mean snack as in a light meal though that's what it said, it mean snack as in an unsatisfying and pathetic excuse for a meal.

Angry and afraid she moved closer to it and spat in its face.

"Try it bug face." She snapped and felt a little voice in the back of her head start to giggle at her choice of insults. Before she could lose her nerve or find a better insult among the yammering panicked thoughts in her head the creature struck.

The blow was hard enough to crack her ribs but before the pain of the impact could register it began to feed. It was like an icy vise of iron clamped down on her basic essence. She couldn't breathe or think, she couldn't scream or move, she tried to pull away but all she could see were the yellow happy eyes of the beast that was killing her. Her ears filled with a low rumbling roar and her vision narrowed until her world was filled with the thing's face and darkness followed.


	9. Ronon Makes a Friend

"Holy shit." John breathed then moved to check on Max; Beckett was at his elbow shouting crisp commands to his assistant.

Max was breathing slowly and evenly, aside from the burn on her chest she could have been sleeping.

"I think she'll be okay –" Beckett said and then Max groaned interrupting him.

"Hey, Holloway wake up." John said sharply.

Her eyes fluttered open and she slowly focused on Beckett then John.

"I'm not dead." She croaked.

"Aye I'd say you're lucky but I think you're just built to higher standards." Beckett chided her and helped her sit up.

She tried to look around but Beckett was shining a light in her eyes.

"Where's the wraith?" She asked.

"Dead love, you put paid to it quite thoroughly I'd say." Beckett said and released his gentle grip on her head freeing her to look around.

At the center of the cage lay a smoking hulk, it was like a cartoon, no flesh, just a blackened skeleton.

"What the fuck?" She asked in blank shock.

"Your Quickening Max –" Carter said excitedly.

"It fried the wraith? How?"

"We'll find out soon enough lass but right now you need fluids and rest." Beckett said firmly. His assistant returned with a gurney.

"I can walk." Max said, Ronon stepped forward and offered her his hand. He seemed like a giant at that angle, taller and broader than ever, she accepted his hand and he pulled her to her feet with surprising control.

She was wrong, she couldn't walk yet. Ronon immediately gripped her elbow and supported her on one side while John snaked her arm over his shoulder and supported her other side. They lead her back to the transporter. Beckett eye balled the assistant who remained behind to gather up equipment. Beckett lead Max and her new fan club to the infirmary with Carter and Tey'la not far behind.

"Now let's get a proper look at you." Beckett said warmly as John and Ronon helped her sit on an exam table.

"Can I get some water?"

"Certainly." Beckett agreed and brought her some himself as one of expert nurses in the infirmary attached an I.V. to her arm. She watched with a smile as her quickening sparked and shocked the hapless nurse.

"Sorry, I think things are a little unsettled." She said and finished her water.

John and Carter remained through the duration of the very long exam. Once Beckett finished and declared she could go but was to report any symptoms immediately John gave her an earpiece and taught her how to use it.

"It's stupid easy, trust me." John said with a smile.

"Thank you sir."

"Colonel would you mind giving us some privacy?" Carter asked, he could tell by her tone that it was a request and not an order.

"Sure, I'm guessing Lorne and the rest could use an update anyway."

Max didn't look at Carter.

"I'm sorry Max. I didn't give you much choice about coming and doing this."

"I don't know, stay in prison or save the planet is a choice of sorts." Max tried to say it as a joke but it twisted in her mouth and her voice broke. She finally looked at Carter at the regret and certainty in her friend's face and let out a shaky breath.

"I would have done the same thing Sam." She admitted.

"I'm still sorry. When I saw you go down…"

"Unstoppable remember?"

"You're not a very good liar."

"I know."

"This place…Atlantis is amazing you can make a life here."

"Offering me a job? Professional wraith fryer?"

"Maybe."

Max shook her head. "I can't take a hit like that in combat without becoming a liability. I didn't have any control when that thing was on me. Whatever happened wasn't my choice."

"You still have experience in off world operations and combat."

"What team would want me?"

"Mine." John said from the doorway. Carter scowled at him as Max jumped and twisted on the table to see who had spoken. John walked around the table to face Max.

"With your skillsets and abilities I'd be crazy to say no."

"Sir with respect I'm a convicted murderer. Who is going to trust me? I don't trust me."

"We will." Ronon said from the doorway. Max slipped off the table and faced the doorway, putting John and Carter between her and it. Tey'la stood with Ronon expression calm and confident.


	10. Tey'la Drinks Tea

"Sheppard says you won't join our team?" Tey'la asked.

Max was leaning against a balcony in ops watching the daily ebb and flow of personnel. She looked over at Tey'la tall, strong, competent, beautiful and exotic and smiled tiredly.

"Look, no offense, I don't know Colonel Sheppard so maybe I'm dead wrong but I get the feeling he sees me as an asset. Okay I kind of am but I'm also a person. I've been locked up for five years during which I was a number at best. I deserve prison but if I'm not going to be in prison I'm not going to be treated like an object…a weapon. A long time ago I was okay with thinking of myself that way but … I'm sorry I'm not explaining this very well."

"You've been through a great deal." Tey'la said sympathetically.

"Yeah well no more or less than you and your people, this city, Sheppard and the rest of the people assigned here."

"You're too hard on yourself I think."

"You do? Noted." Max said and winced at the note of sarcasm in her voice.

"I'm sorry you're the first person to really be nice to me aside from Lorne and Carter since I got here, I mean, outside of their job y'know? Beckett seems really cool but it's his job to not be an asshole…I'm babbling again."

"Would you like some tea?" Tey'la asked with another of her patented smiles.

"I can see why you're a diplomat." Max said as Tey'la handed her a warm cup. Tey'la smiled and inclined her head slightly at the compliment.

"You are among strangers it is long overdue that you were made welcome."

"Major Lorne did right by me, and Sam – uh Colonel Carter is a friend. I haven't really been here long –"

"And you have been without friends or family for longer." Tey'la soothed.

"I talk too much, it's this thing I do." Max said and sipped her tea.

"You should meet Dr. McKay." Tey'la said with a smile.

"I think I did, sorta. He's the pudgy nervous guy that hangs out with your team?"

"Indeed, he is a member of the team."

"Oh. Sorry. He's probably amazing at what he does right?" Max said feeling like an asshole.

"Yes, but he is…an acquired taste."

"Thanks for uh this" Max gestured at the tea, "I really appreciate it."

* * *

"Colonel we need her."

"I agree." Carter said. They were in her office, she seated behind her desk and he pacing in front of it.

"You can order –"

"So can you, so why don't you?" Carter asked innocently.

He scowled at her.

"John you won't order her because we both know drafting her is a mistake. All she agreed to do was come here and be tested on a wraith. Whether she knows it or not she's free to go back to Earth now."

"So what are you sayin?" He asked in a tone that was almost sullen.

"Talk to her, figure out why she's hesitating and convince her to join voluntarily."

"That easy?"

"Clearly you haven't talked to her much."


	11. Sheppard Gets His Way

Max was watching Lorne paint again. It was a seascape with one of Atlantis' many balconies in the foreground. Except that unlike the balcony Lorne was standing on and Max was watching him work from this balcony had never held life. Somehow Lorne managed to convey the feeling that the view in the painting was a dead place. A place where life hadn't arrived, thrived, and died away like so many other planets in the galaxy but a place where life had never started at all.

"Did you intend to make it so empty?" She asked softly. He startled slightly having forgotten she was there more than two hours ago and glanced at her. Happily he had not been actively painting when the question broke his concentration. He looked at the sky roughly judging the time and back at her.

"Empty?"

"It's beautiful but …empty. There are no fish in that sea."

He looked at the canvas thoughtfully then at Max.

"That's how it looks to you?"

"No, how it feels."

"What did the painting I did on the Daedalus feel like?"

"The weirdest mom and pop diner a spaceship ever had." She grinned. He laughed.

"Okay give me a hand cleaning up." He chuckled. She helped him and carried his bag as they carefully trekked to his quarters where he could safely stow the still damp painting.

"You haven't talked to Colonel Sheppard." He said once the painting was safely out of danger.

"Shop talk?"

Lorne smiled and shrugged one shoulder.

"No, I haven't." She admitted avoiding his smile and knowing eyes.

"Afraid he'll talk you into it eh? If it helps General O'Neill had to convince him to join the first mission here."

"Why?"

"I don't know for sure. Apparently he was born with the Ancient gene, Dr. Wier… our first leader?" Max nodded showing she knew of Weir.

"Right, she uh wanted him for that, at first anyway so General O'Neill had a talk with Sheppard and now here we are."

"You're saying he took some convincing so maybe he'll understand why I do?"

"Worth a shot?" He suggested with a pained smile.

Max sighed and looked at her hands.

"Sir, I'm not reluctant to join his team out of concern for my own safety. I'm concerned for his and the city's." Lorne remained quiet just putting away his tools.

"What I did? I don't… I can't do again but I don't really understand why I did it in the first place. The report is…clear about the what and the how, even the who. It's the why I don't understand. Why I went from defense to overkill offense. Until I do I don't think I'm safe to be on a team. Worse what if potential allies find out about my past?"

"I think they'll be more interested in your skillset."

"Which is another liability. These Genii assholes you've tangled with would just love to get their hands on me, forget about a puddlejumper or the cure."

He laughed and shook his head.

"Sergeant you need to do some research. The Genii military wants Sheppard's head on a platter. Tey'la is a dignitary and head of state in her own right as well having some special gifts and skills of her own, any of which can make her a target. Ronon is a hugely accomplished warrior in his own right with a chip on his shoulder the size of Texas and Rodney? He's a recognized genius and friend of Sheppard's. Just being known as part of Atlantis is enough to get most of us kidnapped or killed in the wrong circumstances. So okay you might be a liability but so is everyone around you." He explained patiently.

Max mulled his point over in silence.

"It's time to stop being afraid of maybe and accept some certainties. Without you we may fall to the wraith and if that happens Earth _is_ next. With or without you the people of this city will die one day. Maybe in 80 years in bed surrounded by friends and family but probably not. This isn't about you it's about Earth and Pegasus."

"You should be a recruiter."

* * *

Sheppard came by her quarters that night. She didn't bother to ask if Lorne had sent him or Sheppard had come on his own tired of waiting.

"Sir." She said as he entered her quarters. She was sitting in a lotus position on her bed with the asp blade balanced on her knees.

"Uh hi. So you've had time to think –"

"I'll join your team sir."

"Why now?"

"I had a long talk with someone I trust sir. If I'm here to help then I may as well do more than sit around and get poked."

"You're sure about this?"

"No."

"Good."


End file.
